Forget the rhetorics, we are hungry, Nigerians shout at Buhari’s ministers during meeting

There was mild drama at a Town Hall meeting held Tuesday in Abuja, as a number of Nigerians voiced out their agitations against the present government.

The meeting, was put together by the Ministry of Information and Culture, under the headship of Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Those in attendance, included Mohammed, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Transport, Mr Chibuike Amaechi; Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; Minister of Agriculture, Audi Ogbe and Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelama among others.

During the question and answer session, some participants refused to drop the microphone when it got to them, and kept shouting at the ministers that “Nigerians are hungry.”

They called on the ministers to stop their rhetorics and face the present economic reality in the country, as the recession was biting hard in them.

Speaking earlier, Information Minister Mohammed praised President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for fulfilling its campaign promises to Nigeria.

According to him, the administration had fulfilled its campaign promises of providing security, fighting corruption and rebuilding the economy.

Also speaking, Mrs Adeosun said, “Nigeria is coming out of recession. We are beginning to see the signs and we will come out to become stronger.”

Adeosun further said that though the present government inherited a bad economy, it had succeeded in cleaning all the mess in the system and had put steps in place to check further revenue leakages.

According to her, 60 per cent to GDP was one of the lowest in the world and as such plans were ongoing to make Nigerians pay commensurate taxes to release more revenue for infrastructure development.

Adeosun then assured that the Buhari-led administration will persist on the part of increasing capital vote to deepen infrastructure development.

Read also: S’East Senators’ protest may delay Buhari’s $5.8bn loan request

Ogbe added that government has plans to crash the price of local rice to make it affordable for Nigerians.

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr, Udoma Udo Udoma, in his speech at the meeting said that the 2017 budget was designed to take the country out of recession, assuring that the country would experience the impact.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, during the meeting also revealed that the Federal Government had so far trained about 3,000 Agro Rangers in conjunction with the Ministries of Defence and Interior to curb the menace of killer herdsmen across the country with plans to train more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears

Click here to download the Ripples Nigeria App for latest updates

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now